


Permanent

by jive



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 00:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7736572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jive/pseuds/jive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><blockquote>
  <p> <i>It was nothing elaborate, just six numbers tattooed neatly below the collarbone and right over their hearts. Whenever anyone had asked about its meaning, the answer would simply be, “The day I started the SEP.” An answer that would almost always satisfy their curiosity. It was the truth, in a sense, those numbers did mark the day that they had been inducted into the SEP, but there was more to it than that. </i><br/></p>
</blockquote>A drabble about Jack, Gabriel, and their matching tattoos.
            </blockquote>





	Permanent

**Author's Note:**

> I saw [reapthis76's post about Gabe and Jack having matching tattoos](http://reapthis76.tumblr.com/post/148752611918) and my brain yelled at my fingers to type. 
> 
> I have no idea how tattoos work beyond the very basic info I got from Google. If there's anything wrong, I deeply apologize.

It was nothing elaborate, just six numbers tattooed neatly below the collarbone and right over their hearts. Whenever anyone had asked about its meaning, the answer would simply be, “The day I started the SEP.” An answer that would almost always satisfy their curiosity. It was the truth, in a sense, those numbers did mark the day that they had been inducted into the SEP, but there was more to it than that.

It would have been obvious to anyone who gave the answer a second thought, and to anyone who knew of Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes beyond their titles of Commanders.

It also signified the day they first met; the day their lives first intertwined with each other and remained connected from then on.

Sentimentality would have dictated that something with far more meaning like their anniversary, or each others’ birthdays, be the thing that would be etched  permanently into their skins. And they would be right, if there wasn’t an even deeper meaning to the tattoos.

Tucked away in their own quarters on the night before they officially completed the Program, Gabriel had presented Jack with a metal case, set almost innocuously in the middle of Gabriel’s bed. With no markings of any kind whatsoever, Jack could only guess what was in it. It was too large to be a trinket of any sort - the kind that they could easily carry with them - and looked too clean and sterile to have contained anything that held any sentimental value to either of them.

Jack would have never guessed that inside the box was a tattoo kit.

He was skeptical at first, what with his skin free from any blemishes beyond birthmarks and scarred tissue. But when Gabriel took off his own sweatshirt, uncovering the tattoos that wrapped around his right bicep that Jack was more than intimately aware of, and assured Jack it would be okay - _“nothing will go wrong, cariño, I promise; I’ve done this before”_ \- with the smile that would always make him melt, Jack followed suit. His own pale skin met the warm air of their room, and he took a deep breath as he watched Gabriel slip on the rubber gloves.

For such a simple tattoo, it took a long time to complete. The enhanced healing the SEP had bestowed them with made the process difficult, Jack’s skin rejecting the foreign substance being pushed into its surface until it finally, _finally_ took the ink after the 7th attempt. But it was worth it. After all the blood and excess ink had been wiped off, Jack took a long time admiring is tattoo in the mirror. He had always admired Gabriel’s beautiful penmanship, and here it was, etched permanently into his skin like a loving brand.

Forseeing Jack’s hesitation and worry about somehow messing up something so important - _“what if my hand slips and it ends up looking weird, or I don’t know, it ends up looking really bad”_ \- Gabriel fished out a small sack of oranges from underneath his bed - _“how long have those been down there? that’s how you get ants, Gabe,"_ \- and dumped out its contents onto the linoleum, taking care not to let them roll off or into the equipment. Grabbing a few oranges, Gabriel crawled across the floor and settled himself behind Jack, kissing him on the cheek before resting his chin on Jack’s shoulder.

The gun was placed the into Jack’s writing hand, and the orange into the other, and with a few low murmurs of reassurance, Gabriel placed his hands around Jack’s own. For the next few hours, Gabriel patiently guided Jack through the process, until there wasn’t a single orange in the room that lacked ink in its rind. After cleaning the tools, Gabriel took his place on the floor where he had been before, and leaned in to take Jack’s face in his hands. After two soft kisses - one on the forehead and one on the lips - Gabriel offered one last reassurance before Jack took a deep breath and pressed the gun to Gabriel’s skin.

Contrary to Gabriel’s almost script-like handwriting, Jack’s own was pretty appalling. Nevertheless, he tried to be as neat as he could - _“babe, if you make it too neat, it won’t look like your handwriting anymore”_ \- making sure each line was as true as possible. Unfortunately, his best efforts at correcting his penmanship went to waste, as the numbers on Gabriel’s skin looked the same as if Jack had written on paper. But even so, if it made Gabriel smile as wonderfully as it did when he admired Jack’s work in the mirror, who was Jack to argue?

 

Years later, though a good portion of his body had been left scarred and burned from the explosion in Zürich, the digits remained thankfully untouched. They stayed, etched upon Jack’s skin like a brand, and though Jack had ample opportunity to rid himself of it, he let it be. The ink would remain in his skin - though slightly faded with time - still permanent, like Gabriel’s presence in the heart that beat beneath it.


End file.
